Anthony Buttigieg to step down as PD leader to contest MEP election

Democratic Party leader Anthony Buttigieg will be the PD's first candidate to run for the 2019 MEP elections but he will be resigning from his role as leader to concentrate on his campaign.

The PD said Anthony Buttigieg was presented before an independent board of scrutiny, which all potential candidates will be submitted to, and after a thorough interview the board passed on the report to the party executive. The decision was unanimous and based, the PD said, on Buttigieg's "unassailable principles and vision for a Malta which is more free and more fair."

Buttigieg said it was in the interest of the party to elect a new leader "in order to maintain its momentum" since he holds a full-time job and the fast-expanding Partit Demokratiku has increased its demands.

Buttigieg will step down as leader on 21 September, allowing the mechanism to elect a new leader to take effect. He will stay on until that time as interim leader and will remain a member of the party's executive committee.

The PD thanked Anthony Buttigieg for his service and referred to him as "one of the last gentlemen in politics."